Troy

Obviously Pioneer can have his opinion. You know like assholes everyone has one... Pioneer asserts that his opinion is factually correct despite ample evidence to counter it. Del, do you have a problem with me showing him the light, or would you prefer Pioneer to remain in the bowels of ignorance on this issue?

Pioneer, equating science to the "west" is like equating religion or spirituality to the west. Don't get caught up in western language and constructs. African the cultures that predated western civilization engaged in what we might call science and religion. Del your last statement reminded be of Harry Potter. If you ever so the films, the study of magic, in the classroom, was indistinguishable from a science lecture. Is this what you mean?

Welcome to America.

Why Native Americans do not separate religion from science The knowledge of the medicinal qualities of these plants clearly grew out of a process of observation and experimentation. She learned how to distill the essential elements of a plant to create an extract of its medicinal properties. In fact, her refrigerator was filled with bottles of extracts. However, some of these plants also had mythological stories that spoke of their origin in the supernatural realm. These stories instructed the Blackfeet how to communicate with the plant, to care for it, how to protect its ecosystem, restrict knowledge of the plant and its over-harvesting. My grandmother believed that a powerful supernatural being, “Ko’komíki’somm,” gave humans certain plants to use as medicine. She also understood, based on their scientific properties, that a plant was indeed a medicine. The Spirituality of Africa Indigenous African religions refer to the indigenous or native religious beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic colonization of Africa. Indigenous African religions are by nature plural, varied, and usually informed by one’s ethnic identity, where one's family came from in Africa. For instance, the Yoruba religion has historically been centered in southwestern Nigeria, the Zulu religion in southern Africa, and the Igbo religion in southeastern Nigeria. "African spirituality simply acknowledges that beliefs and practices touch on and inform every facet of human life, and therefore African religion cannot be separated from the everyday or mundane." For starters, the word "religion" is problematic for many Africans, because it suggests that religion is separate from the other aspects of one's culture, society, or environment. But for many Africans, religion can never be separated from all these. It is a way of life, and it can never be separated from the public sphere. Religion informs everything in traditional African society, including political art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death.

What man stop playing give me some names of Black forums: troy@aalbc.com. Well the net is the next best thing when, for whatever reason, dealing with folks in the physical world is impossible. I refuse to do Facebook but forum like this are fine with me. I pretty much live in the country now. There is no one in my tribe within 20 miles of me (that I know of). Tomorrow I'm going to St. Pete for the Launch party two week literary festival they are holding there (about 30 miles from me). I have very little hope I'll meet someone that I'll vibe with. But one never knows... My kids are coming down to visit me this weekend so that will be cool.

Man sometimes you just need to take a minute and do a deep dive into a subject to learn more about a subject. In this case National Geographic laid it out very nicely in a format that easy to consume and understand. You do not need to be a scholar. My summary would not do justice to their coverage. If you want, I can mail you my copy if you promise to read it.

I crossed that bridge from Detroit to get into Canada myself, but that was just to buy cheap beer with the higher alcohol content.... Man you really don't need that much money to travel especially if you are willing to rough it. I don't travel abroad as much as I used to, bt that is because I don't have the income i used to have and my overhead is still pretty high... I'm planning to organize literary travel excursions starting next year maybe I'll be able to start using my passport again sooner than later

Why is data from dubious sources even a point of contention? You are clouding the issue. I'm not sure if you are doing this deliberately or if this is the way your mind works.

This is deep. I only really read the book forums. what struck was how active that one portion of the website was. As far as I could tell the book forum was just a small part of a massive website, which is why I wrote that it was one of the best Black forums on the web. The former LSAer comments about Lipstick alley reminds me of what I saw on world star hiphop which was a bazillion comments from trolls. I guess I need to revisit the ownership issue of Lipstick Alley. Shoot maybe some of those book forum participants would consider posting on a Black owned site... Interestingly I was on the site yesterday. i wanted to share information about the top 10 lists I'm creating. I then realized I could not start a conversation and could not figure out why so I gave up. @Pioneer1, are there any other Black owned forums that you visit and like today?

Sometimes a big mess is just that, a big mess. Given Google's behavior I'm surprised this kind of thing does not happen more frequently. Like the shooter, I too was recently delisted from making money from Youtube Videos. I was not making very much, but it was something and in the business of book sales every penny counts. Where is my AR-47?

Hey Former LSAer. I can't speak to what the site is like relative to a few years ago. I only just discovered it last year. Eddie George is clearly Black so I'm confused by your statement.

@harry brown, I stepped away from social media and watch virtually no broadcast TV or radio. Most of the media I consume I seek out, It is "pulled" in by me rather than "pushed:" to me. Now I admit this will not be a complete picture of our world, but it is better than have my news feed to me by those solely motivated by profit. I say this to suggest that you may be are getting a very biased and distorted picture of preachers. The media focus mostly on the preachers who behave badly, simply because we show more interest in the thieving whoring preachers than the ones who are actually doing good in the community. I would be willing to bet you money that the majority, perhaps the vast majority, of ministers are righteous and trying to have a positive impact on their communities. This is not to suggest that they are perfect, no one is, but I think they are doing more good that bad. Would you be willing to try this for a while. Forget the bad preachers, share stories about ministers that are doing good work. Now again, you might have to dig deep given the current state of our media, but I'm sure you can find folks who are doing the right thing. You might also wanna read a bit more about Winnie Mandela... As always thanks for you contributions to out forum.

OK thanks, I get it. Seems the divine plan, whatever it may be, is not working out so well for many folks.

Del, I don't know what that means on the surface it is oxymoronic. How does it apply to your prodigious faith in our political process?

@Pioneer1 (anyone) you should read this issue. I just got it in the mail myself, but I'm sure you can find it on Newsstands, or the Library. It is the April 2018 Issue. I think it will help you think differently about race. The two girls picture on the cover below are biological sisters, twins actually. Hey which one do you think is cuter

Done.

Shoot, Pence could be worse. 45 is your garden variety greedy ego manic. Pence is on a mission from God which could be far more dangerous Del you clearly have far more faith in this whole process than I. The source of your faith remains a mystery to me. Cynique The American empire has already entered it's decline. 45's presidency is the most stark indication. Even American life expectancy is going down.

Yeah it looks like an interesting book. How did you discover it? The Un-Civil War: BLACKS vs NIGGERS: Confronting the Subculture Within the African-American Community (May 4, 2013) by Taleeb Starkes

Del step put the liberal bubble and check out some right wing media. You'll gain a different perspective and see, as Cynique described 45 has a lot of support. Maybe not the majority, but certainly enough to keep him in office. Besides there are those who believe our current vice president, would be worse for the county. 45 ain't going anywhere before the end of his term.

Del you could have saved all of the copying and pasting and just asked. I can't speak for the others, and I think I was the only one who made the suggestion. I wrote it based upon your latest statement: As far as I can recall, you are the first person to start taking about a 2nd term -- I thought we talking about whether he would finish this term. OK, I get based upon your reaction that you are not backing off the belief (or is it also a prediction) that Trump will not finish his term. Again, I believe he will. The author of the latest article you shared did not draw the conclusion that Trump will not serve out his term.

I've just created a page where I will compile lists of Top 10 Book Categories. I'm really looking for overlooked, unusual, and creative categories for which to creates lists and the books to go with them. I put a started a category for "Black Girl Hair" and "Steampunk," but am looking for many more along with titles to go with them. I have not shared this project with anyone yet, hopefully some of you out there who read these forums but don't contribute will be moved to share some ideas. Really trying to raise awareness of breather of out literature beyond the regular run of the mill categories. I'll happily include those but I want to make it much broader.

@DelanoI did not think he would have a first term. I would not put giving Trump a second term past the American population. You see how easily we were manipulated by Facebook. Facebook dominance, and control, will only get stronger giving spinmeisters with deep enough pockets to brainwash us into doing anything. Besides, I thought you were predicting that he would not finish his current term. Have you now conceded that he will complete his first term and are now changing the speculation to whether he will win a 2nd term?

This is very useful information that you shared @D.E. Eliot I'm actually compiling a similar list of expenses an author should expect if they are self publishing their book. This is in conjunction with a workshop I gave this past week on self publishing. You can review what I've started here: https://aalbc.com/nbwc/ Now every manuscript it different, so the production costs will be different as well. For example I would also caution writers against editors that price based upon a manuscript's length. Again every book is different; some books need a less work than others -- the pricing should be a function of the effort involved not the simply the length. Is #10 and #12 for promotional copies for booksellers, reviewers, etc? Yeah 50% of ones budget allocated to marketing sounds about right. Though the cost of this over time if you hire a publicist and purchase advertising regularly and crun into integer multiples of the production costs. It is interesting that you were a late reader and are now a published author -- congrats. I know a Brother who was functionally illiterate, in college (a football player). He is now a successful novelist published by a major house.

One of my favorite cities. I have not been there in about 15 years. I have 3 suits that I purchased there thst I still wear to this day :-) How long will you be there? Enjoy!

@Pioneer1 there is no harm in going to see a film. I do it from time to time myself. The problem is went we begin to elevate this fiction into something we worship. Don't you see this is the exact same strategy that put 45 into office. Some slick marketers created the fiction of 45 being a savvy businessman for the purpose of bolstering his profile for the Apprentice "reality" TV program. The nation brought into the fiction and we made him POTUS. The facts of his business failures did not matter, what mattered was compelling fiction that was created. White folks are needy too. They needed someone who spoke to their pain and promised to make things better and on paper 45 is doing just that. 45 will serve out his term and do not be surprised if he wins a second term -- unless Oprah runs and she'll win in a landslide.